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How do you Smell? Ha!

This past week, as I walked into the garage, an offensive odor hit my nostrils. Ugh! Something was dead somewhere in the garage. My wife, Pam, would be coming home that afternoon from out of town—before I got home from the office—so I was feverishly seeking for the source of the stench. I ended up being late for an appointment with a team member, and didn’t find the dead critter until later that evening.

You know, some Christians reek. No doubt about it. They give off an aroma that is not what God intended. We’ll spend the next several posts on the very important topic of spiritual aromachology—the science of smell. Here’s what Paul said,

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?” (2 Corinthians 2:14-16 NIV84, emphasis added).

There are two Greek words represented in these verses. One, used three times (fragrance, smell) just means odor or smell. The other, “aroma” (euodia) actually means “sweet aroma” or “pleasant fragrance.”

Would your believing and (even more important) not-yet-believing friends say that the character and disposition of your life is a pleasant aroma that points people to Jesus?

Are there areas of your life or situations where you find yourself reeking, smelling quite badly?